Soft Pull from Collection Agency

[thebusymind]

Hello my fellow Fico'ers,

I just did a full pull from the bureaus, and I noticed a soft pull from Plaza Recovery about a year ago.  They only pulled TU, only did a soft pull, and I've never heard from them.  Does anyone have any experience with this? Why would a collection agency do a soft pull on me? I had 2 baddies I removed last year, and I"m worried that another skeleton from my closet is going to come out and bite me .  Should I call them and ask, or could that stir up some problems?

Thanks

[rckstrscott]

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@thebusymind wrote:

Hello my fellow Fico'ers,

I just did a full pull from the bureaus, and I noticed a soft pull from Plaza Recovery about a year ago.  They only pulled TU, only did a soft pull, and I've never heard from them.  Does anyone have any experience with this? Why would a collection agency do a soft pull on me? I had 2 baddies I removed last year, and I"m worried that another skeleton from my closet is going to come out and bite me .  Should I call them and ask, or could that stir up some problems?

Thanks

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They will softpull to get information; a phone number maybe, an address..

Usually if the pull was a year back, it was probably a zombie debt that can't report, OR it's a debt that was checking to see if you applied for something like a mortgage, so they can try to hit you up for some cash knowing you'd have to likely pay it before closing...

a year back? I wouldn't worry too much about it now.. I would hold off contacting personally

-scott

[thebusymind]

Thanks Scott,

I've been racking my brain trying to figure out what possible reason they would have had to pull my report, and especially since I havent heard from them, I cant think of any reason.  Would they pull it to try and get my phone number? Maybe they were looking for my brother/dad.  Both of them have lots of issues lol

[rckstrscott]

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@thebusymind wrote:

Thanks Scott,

I've been racking my brain trying to figure out what possible reason they would have had to pull my report, and especially since I havent heard from them, I cant think of any reason.  Would they pull it to try and get my phone number? Maybe they were looking for my brother/dad.  Both of them have lots of issues lol

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If it makes you feel better, I have 3 or 4 random SP's every couple months from collection agencies... and I haven't had a new debt hit in 2 years because I have been responsible wtih my money since 2007, and I am pretty sure those are all zombie so I just ignore

-scott

[thebusymind]

If they were Zombies why would they not contact you and try and get money out of you? 

That did make me feel better, Thanks - I went from a 590 to a 752 credit score over the last year, and I would be really upset if a random debt came out of nowhere and destroyed all my hard work. 

[Shogun]

A zombie debt is just one that has passed the SOL of your state and the CRTP for reporting to the CRAs.  It does not mean it's not a valid debt.

[rckstrscott]

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@thebusymind wrote:

If they were Zombies why would they not contact you and try and get money out of you? 

That did make me feel better, Thanks - I went from a 590 to a 752 credit score over the last year, and I would be really upset if a random debt came out of nowhere and destroyed all my hard work. 

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well, lots of reasons;

One, shogun is right. It is still a debt... but they could have pulled my report, and saw that I have recently purchased a car and a home, so they likely feel no leaverage. Wouldn't be worth their time. If they thought I was planning a purchase, ie, saw a recent INQ from a mortgage lender, they might tyr to call and scare me into paying..

Either way, I pay all zombie debt I know I owe IF they send a dunning and I know it is mine. But I am not about to go hunting on a softpull for someone to pay money to

-scott

[Shogun]

+1 scott

If they send you a dunning notice, then you would DV and start from there.  

[RobertEG]

Personally, I would not wait for dunning notice to send a DV.

By making an inquiry, they have certified to the CRA that they have legitimate collection authority on a debt that you allegedly owe.

Otherwise, their inquiry lacked permissible purpose.  So you have allegedly unpaid debt.

You can send a DV without first receving dunning notice, and it will automatically be timely, thus invoking a cease collection bar, which includes any reporting of their collection, until they have first verfied. 

Just ignoring it would not be my course.  Someone out there alleges you owe a debt.  You want to clear that up, regardlless of credit reporting issues, as in any future application for credit, you may be asked if you have any old, unpaid delinquent debt.  Knowing that a debt collector is asserting that you do by making inquiry for your crdit report casts doubt on your ability to state no.